‘Nuns on the Bus': Investigated but irrepressible

U.S. Catholic bishops have launched a much-ballyhooed “Fortnight for Freedom” in protest against HHS’ birth control mandate and gay marriage, with masses at basilicas and sermons by such right-thinking prelates as Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.

The national event is being upstaged, however, by “Nuns on the Bus,” a 14-day, nine-city bus tour by four Catholic nuns that is designed to protest steep reductions in federal food stamps, Medicaid and other programs that assist the poor.

When the bus pulled into South Bend, Indiana, it was greeted by “the same sort of enthusiastic crowds that often greet Notre Dame teams coming home after big wins on the road,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Archbishop Peter Sartain

The nation’s social activist sisters have lately been investigated by the Vatican, upbraided for embracing ‘radical feminist” themes, and assigned Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain and two other prelates as overseers to make them toe the line.

The Vatican crackdown may prove a classic case of clerical error.

Seattle and more than 50 other cities saw demonstrations through May in support of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), the nuns assigned supervision. The LCWR isn’t backing down, saying the Vatican’s investigation has caused “scandal and pain throughout the church community and created greater polarization.”

A meeting will be held at the parish hall in St. Joseph Church at 7 p.m. on Tuesday to plan a march in support of the nuns. Sartain made conciliatory statements in Rome earlier this month, but not explained his role to the half-million Catholics of the Seattle Archdiocese.

Back East, meantime, Nuns on the Bus is on a roll. Sr. Simone Campbell, spokeswoman for the group, bantered with comedian Stephen Colbert last week. Colbert, tongue in cheek, asked if they were “radical feminist nuns.”

“We’re certainly oriented toward the needs of women and responding to their needs,” Campbell replied. “If that’s radical, I guess we are. We’re faithful to the gospel. We work everyday to live as Jesus did in a relationship with people at the margins of society. That’s all we do.”

“I’m not going to get into an argument over the gospel with a nun,” Colbert responded.

The nuns are specifically protesting a House Republican budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin. “Ryan budget supporters want to cut (food stamps), Medicaid for children and the disabled: These cuts will also decimate housing programs,” Campbell explained in South Bend.

The sisters have gone to places that rarely see bishops. They toured Maria House in Dubuque, Iowa, which has a food pantry and tutors immigrants. In Milwaukee, they went to the Seton Dental Clinic, which provides services to the poor.

It was the Sr. Maura Clinic in South Bend, which serves a largely Hispanic clientele.

The nuns’ tour is sponsored by NETWORK, a nationwide Catholic group that serves and advocates for the poor.